There's infinite nuance and meta game to referendums, but that aside... (1) Referendums seem able to produce highly decisive vote counts on otherwise controver

There's infinite nuance and meta game to referendums, but that aside... (1) Referendums seem able to produce highly decisive vote counts on otherwise controversial political issues. Interesting, in itself. (2) Issues that parties are at odds about aren't necessarily 50-50 issues. (3) Referendums can (sometimes) produce democratic legitimacy in ways that representative politics cannot. All interesting, in terms of enabling decision making. Referendums seem to be gaining a little momentum. I think one hidden advantage is the fact that referendums structurally enforce a separation of idea and execution.